Friday, February 07, 2014

I Need to Blog More...

This has become a repeated mantra with me. I need to blog more. I say it all the time, at the end of my rare blog posts, on Facebook, in face-to-face conversations with people. I used to blog several times a day. Or at least every day. It was the perfect thing to do first thing in the morning or late at night. But I just don't seem to get around it. And dammit, Facebook and Twitter, you make it so easy just to say a couple of things about something and not have to go into it. I look at the stats of how often I posted, and in 2010 (when Lost ended), I had 362 posts. Last year, 105. And so far in 2014... two. (This makes three.) Frak.

I have so many blog posts in my head, and have wanted to write about it for the past several months:

-Why Gravity is an incredible movie that's not about a woman floating aimlessly in space, but a metaphor for how we feel after we've lost someone and can no longer find our footing.
-What an amazing series Orphan Black is, why Tatiana Maslany is the most exciting actress on television right now, and why you should be watching it.
-How Downton Abbey let me down at the end of season 3 and why it's become difficult just to force myself to watch it, and yet I cannot look away.
-My conundrum that I want to read more books, but then I can't watch TV and blog about it. But then again, I AM watching TV and not blogging about it so maybe I should just read more books?
-More crazy things my kids have said this week. ;)
-My deep, deep love for Sleepy Hollow. And my even deeper love for Tom Mison.
-What it feels like to have lost my faith... but that's probably more than just a blog post.
-How much I loved season 1 of Orange Is the New Black and the future of TV, including my newest desire to just unplug and use other means to watch TV (but my husband is a golf writer and requires sports, which you can't find elsewhere).
-The other half of my "Hey I visited the sets of Lost!" post, which had part 1 here. But it took me almost two hours to put it together, and I did it on a balcony in Hawaii. Here at home where the snow is five feet high around my house, it's harder to make myself put this puppy together. Even if it DOES include photos of the Smoke Monster devouring my husband. :)

So maybe I need to just commit to one blog post a week and cover off various things. Or maybe I need to just accept that this has become a dead zone. (Well, not completely: This Sunday The Walking Dead returns and Josh and I will be writing about it, followed by book 2 of Game of Thrones and season 4 of Game of Thrones with Chris Lockett.)

I haven't forgotten all of you. Even if I'm just writing for myself, I AM determined to get back on this thing and keep writing. At some point.

Glad your into Orphan Black. It got the most nominations for the Canadian Screen Awards. On March 8th some of the nominees are apparently going to be avaliable for fan pictures at the Eaton Center. I'm so going if TM is there.

I frequent a handful of blogs on a regular basis (this is one of them) and I've noticed an alarming drop in activity right across the board in the last couple of years. I'm talking about blogs that used to elicit 200-300 comments per blog post, that now struggle mightily to reach a dozen. I have to assume that Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. are sucking the life out of the old-fashioned blog, which is a shame for me since I don't use any of the alternatives.

I also sympathize with anyone trying to maintain a blog with dwindling participation. It has to be demoralizing to work on a 1,000 word blog post and the combined responses barely reach 100 words. After all, there are 6+ billion people in the world.

I've yet to see "Gravity", but will do so eventually. I definitely share the deep love for "Sleepy Hollow". I never planned on watching such nonsense, but I channel-surfed my way into the pilot episode and was instantly hooked. And, hey, Jack Bristow is Walter Bishop's grandfather? WTF? Can it get any better than that? I was disappointed that it only had 13 episodes. The winters are long, after all.

I also love "Orphan Black". Doesn't everybody? And, it has Max Headroom, so there's that.

Unplugging and the future of TV? I LOVE watching TV on my laptop, with ear buds in. It's not a very social way to watch, but my focus is so much better (probably because it makes it so much harder to web surf at the same time).

I think the 'losing faith' post would be a real barn-burner. I often get my faith mixed up with my hope. The difference is that I always have hope.

So, Nikki, I don't believe you're just writing for yourself, but even if you are, sometimes it just feels good to write something.

File this under interesting coincidences. In my comment above with "Dare! Dare!" dated Feb. 7th, I was referencing "Blazing Saddles". I had no idea that Feb. 7th was the 40th anniversary of its release. I found out about it later that evening on Facebook. (Freaked me and my husband right out! That's one of the first movies we ever saw together.)

I know where you're comin' from, Nikki. And of course I'd love for you to blog more just because I enjoy the whole community that built up here, mainly because of Lost, on top of reading what you have to say.

Getting on Facebook a little over a year ago put a huge dent in my own blogging. It's not so much what I write there that keeps me from writing more long-form — if anything, when I jot down a little something (or get caught up in a conversation on a friend's timeline) that I know would make a great blogpost all fleshed out, I want like heck to immediately do just that — but rather simply spending the time scrolling through and commenting on what friends are doing. Facebook really did reconnect me with many, many people from my life with whom it's great to be back in touch.

I share your love towards the breathtaking Gravity and the crazy-breakneck Sleepy Hollow. Unfortunately I haven't seen Orphan Black yet, although I hope to binge-watch it soon. And I look forward to the return of your blogging on The Walking Dead even as I expect to continue wondering after every episode why I keep watching something that is such a consistent downer.

Mostly, I write about television, and with this being the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, a lot of that television is Joss Whedon-related (when it's not about Lost). Stick around if you love Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Sherlock, Lost, BtVS, Doctor Who, or anything on HBO.

About Me

I've published companion guides to Xena, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias, and Lost through ECW Press, and my latest book is "Finding Lost — Season Six: The Unofficial Guide." Currently, I love Revenge, Community, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead... actually, pretty much everything on HBO or AMC.

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The Great Buffy Rewatch!

Welcome to the home of the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011, where every Tuesday night we convened to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer from season 1 to the end. I was joined by over 25 guest commentators and Buffy scholars who helped me lead you through the watch, offering non-spoilery discussion for the new watchers as well as spoiler-filled discussions for the rewatchers. The entire Rewatch can be found in the archives here, listed by week and contributor. Go here for the full 2011 schedule, and here to see the list of amazing contributors. And be sure to pick up my book, Bite Me, a complete episode by episode guide to the series!